Cultic offerings of foreigners: The exegetical logic informing Pesiqta rabbati’s “exclusivist” interpretation of Lev 22:17–25 and related biblical passages

The participation of foreigners in the Israelite/Jewish cultic service has been the topic of numerous studies. The last few years have witnessed the publication of several significant investigations of this issue, including those undertaken by V. Haarmann1 and R. Albertz.2 These important contributions notwithstanding, disagreement continues regarding the position of biblical sources – and, in particular, priestly legislation – vis-à-vis offerings made by foreigners.3 Not surprisingly, Second Temple and rabbinic sources bearing on this issue also reflect divergent views, though these texts, by and large, afford virtually no insight into the exegetical factors informing their respective positions. This state of affairs is particularly true with regard to the “exclusivist” position and the exegetical reasoning informing this school of thought. Accordingly, the present essay addresses two issues bearing on the exclusivist position. First, it examines the “compositional logic”4 informing the position of one late rabbinic-early medieval Palestinian composition, Pesiqta Rabbati, a text that does, indeed, afford a coherent – and, to this date, unique – understanding of the exegetical reasoning informing the “exclusivist” position maintained therein and, conceivably, the exclusivist stance of earlier Jewish circles, as well. Following this analysis, two textual variants preserved in non-masoretic readings of Lev 22:25 are examined and it is demonstrated that at least one, and possibly both, formulations of this verse are consonant – and may, indeed, have been familiar – with the understanding of Lev 22:25 proposed by the author/compiler of Pesiqta Rabbati.